Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Chopin Project
Polish Cello Quartet
rec. 2023, Red Hall of the National Forum of Music, Wrocław, Poland
CD Accord ACD326 [52]

Why do some musicians or recording companies seek to hype their work by labelling it as a project?  I don’t recall Herbert von Karajan, who certainly knew a thing or two about self-promotion, grandiosely referring to his latest symphony cycle as a Beethoven project.  Nor, while an 85-and-still-counting themed series of discs might seem an ideal candidate for such a description, will you find any mention of a Romantic piano concerto project in the Hyperion catalogue.  

These days, however, project seems to have become a bit of a buzz word in the music industry and MusicWeb’s search engine throws up a disconcertingly large number of CDs using it in their titles.  I suspect that, all too often, it’s little more than a piece of marketing puffery aimed at making a perfectly unexceptionable release appear just that little bit more special.  Rarely, indeed, is there any credible evidence of the enhanced level of ambition that’s surely implied by the description of something as part of a wider project.  We consumers have, however, become so inured to the practice that it now tends to pass almost unnoticed.  In just the past year, for instance, when I reviewed the Royal Ballet’s production of The Dante project, I admit with embarrassment that I failed to question the pretentious-sounding title and to ask why the piece hadn’t simply been called The divine comedy or Dante’s inferno.  

Lately, it seems that Frédéric Chopin has become another victim of the trend.  Following hot on the heels of The Chopin project – a trio of releases last year from cellist Camille Thomas – we now find the Polish Cello Quartet producing their own Chopin project(I will charitably assume that the infelicitously awkward omission of the definite article is an attempt to avoid confusion with Ms Thomas’s rival enterprise rather than a gratuitous attempt at trendiness).

The Polish Cello Quartet was formed in 2011 by Tomasz Daroch, Wojciech Fudala, Krzysztof Karpeta and Adam Krzeszowiec, the section leaders of four of Poland’s leading orchestras.  Its debut album Discoveries featured an eclectic mix of rarely heard pieces by Prosper van Eechaute, Rudolf Matz, Kazimierz Wiłkomirski and Alfredo Piatti and won my colleague Stephen Greenbank’s enthusiastic nomination as a MusicWeb Recording of the month (“a stunning release… that has given me no end of pleasure”).  Shortly afterwards the Quartet could be heard playing Grażina Bacewicz’s cello quartet in an account once again welcomed enthusiastically by Stephen (“wonderful playing”) and characterised by our fellow reviewer Jonathan Woolf as one of the disc’s “superfine performances”.

The Quartet primarily aims to perform works originally written for four cellists.  While, quite apart from the well-known beautiful episode in Act 3 of Tosca (YouTube), there are rather more of those than one might perhaps imagine, it is hardly surprising to find its members turning to the music – albeit necessarily in arranged form – of Poland’s best-loved composer.  As Artur Bielecki’s booklet essay points out, Chopin enjoyed close personal associations with several cellists.  They included Prince Antoni Radziwiłł, for whom he composed a polonaise in C major for cello and piano, and Auguste Franchomme, the French dedicatee of the sonata in G minor op. 65 (Franchomme’s music features, by the way, as an integral part of Camille Thomas’s aforementioned The Chopin project).  Moreover, anyone with the least familiarity with the composer’s music will easily appreciate that many of its qualities suit the cello particularly well. 

The selection of repertoire for this disc ought not, therefore, to have been too onerous an exercise.  Nevertheless, had the marketing men been left to their own devices, I suspect that they might have come up with a very different CD.  It’s easy, for instance, to imagine a collection of Chopin’s greatest hits selected from his more lyrical, bel canto pieces and re-worked for the cello’s richly warm timbres.  Dripping with schmaltzy sentimentality, it might, perhaps, have enjoyed a Valentine’s Day release, entitled, perhaps, Chopin for lovers, Chopin by candlelight or the delightfully alliterative Chopin and chocolate.  No doubt there’s a place in the market for such a disc, but on this occasion the booklet notes assure us that the Quartet’s own members took personal responsibility for choosing the 15 pieces included in Chopin project.  They turn out to be an interesting and varied selection taken variously from the mazurkas (“Chopin’s most personal form of artistic expression”, opines Mr Bielecki), the op. 28 preludes (“one of the greatest musical masterpieces of Romanticism”), the waltzes (“among Chopin’s most brilliant and refined works”) and the nocturnes (“captivating with their melodiousness and romantic mood”).   The etude op. 27 no. 7 (“peerless in its cantilena”) has also been included.  

Composer, singer and jazz-specialist Sabina Meck (b. 1992) is responsible for more than half of the arrangements, with Piotr Moss (b. 1949) – sometime pupil of the aforementioned Grażina Bacewicz – taking on four of the remainder and composer and arranger Leszek Kolodziejski (b. 1981) a further three.  Each, it seems, was asked to model their work as closely as possible on Chopin’s original pieces, which explains, for instance, why, in each case, they have retained the key that Chopin originally specified for the piano original even though it may not necessarily have been the most felicitous for cello rearrangement.  Although, as you might expect, the arrangers have exercised varying degrees of intervention, in almost all cases they have cleverly utilised the cello’s particular musical characteristics and taken advantage of the fact that they have no less than four performers – and four separate bowing arms – at their disposal.  In some of the pieces, intriguing new perspectives are thereby revealed, while in others the result is neither more nor less interesting but simply different.  There are also, as we shall see, a couple of cases where I find the rearrangements somewhat less engaging than the piano originals.  

The three mazurkas make a striking opening.  The F major WN 25, composed before Chopin had left Poland, appropriately eschews any thought of Parisian drawing rooms and adopts instead a rustic, bucolic tone that’s strikingly emphasised in particular during the energetic, albeit brief, interjection that occurs from 00:46 until 00:56.  The following A minor mazurka, op. 17 no. 4, offers a good instance of the way in which the cellos’ natural timbres can bring out some piquant colouration, while imaginative balances between the players and subtle use of dynamics afford even more interest.  Cleverly conceived rearrangement also serves to subvert one’s expectations in the B flat major mazurka, op. 7 no. 1, as the players playfully toss the melodic line between themselves.    

In general terms, the following five tracks, a selection of the op. 20 preludes, see greater emphasis placed on qualities such as melodic beauty, emotional depth and consistency of mood.  Nevertheless, each arranger brings something new to the table.  Leszek Kolodziejski’s arrangement of the prelude in G sharp minor, op. 28 no. 12, for instance, is particularly notable for its air of restlessness and for the way in which the cellos’ sonorities tease out some unsettling musical undercurrents.  Meanwhile, Sabina Meck similarly takes an opportunity to direct our attention to one or two disturbing – and sometimes overlooked – elements in the familiar Raindrop prelude in D flat major, op. 28 no. 15 (01:49 – 04:56, and especially 02:23 – 02:50 which turns out to be rather more than the light shower implied by the title).  Piotr Moss’s remodelling of op. 28 no. 20 is another intriguing track, offering the players such promising opportunities to demonstrate their instruments’ versatility that it momentarily puts the piano original somewhat in the shade.

Both the op. 64 no. 2 and the op. 18 waltzes are delivered quite delightfully.  Op. 18, the Grande valse brillante which, at 6:12, is the disc’s longest single track, emerges as an especially playful, jolly account that demonstrates the Quartet’s members’ sheer enjoyment in making music together.  The other two waltzes, on the other hand, demonstrate the importance of choosing the most suitable material for such a “project” as this.  WN 19 is certainly delivered enjoyably, but, compared to some of the other tracks, the arrangement plays it relatively safe and doesn’t appear to be aiming to add any particular extra dimensions to the original piano version.  Meanwhile, the performance of the well-known Minute waltz, op. 64 no. 1, demonstrates that even the most accomplished cellists’ bowing is ultimately unable to compete with the nimble fingers of a virtuoso pianist. 

Two of the remaining three tracks are nocturnes.  A beautifully delivered account of the rearranged C sharp minor Lento con gran espressione, characterised by subtle use of dynamics, is a particular success, while the E flat major op. 9 no. 2 is remodelled as something of a playful waltz that will momentarily take aback anyone familiar with the piano original.  Finally, the utility of deploying four cellos in the “peerless in cantilena” etude in C sharp minor, op. 25 no.7 is well demonstrated as Leszek Kolodziejski’s arrangement brings out the piece’s internal contrasts while simultaneously enhancing both its overall colour and atmosphere.

The Polish Cello Quartet’s performances are, as you might well expect from its line-up, quite expertly delivered.  They are, moreover, enhanced by very fine recordings.  Let’s remember, at this point, that that’s something that can’t always be taken for granted.  Even when musicians are as experienced as these, the backroom engineering team’s contribution remains vitally important in ensuring that we, the listeners at home, are offered an optimally balanced recording allowing us to hear everything that we want and need to with the greatest possible clarity.  Thankfully, that is what we get here.  

This disc comes with an informative booklet and is packaged in a cardboard gatefold cover that seems to be a little sturdier and better made than one or two others that I’ve recently encountered.  Imaginative and generally enjoyable, its contents will, I imagine, intrigue, provoke admiration and stimulate further thought – while perhaps raising the occasional eyebrow – among admirers of Chopin’s music.

Rob Maynard

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Contents
Mazurka in F major, WN 25 (1830) arr. Sabina Meck
Mazurka in A minor, op. 17 no. 4 (1832-1833) arr. Piotr Moss
Mazurka in B flat major, op. 7 no. 1 (1830-1831) arr. Sabina Meck
Prelude in E minor, op. 28 no. 4 (1836-1839) arr. Sabina Meck
Prelude in B minor, op. 28 no. 6 (1836-1839) arr. Sabina Meck
Prelude in G sharp minor, op. 28 no. 12 (1836-1839) arr. Leszek Kolodziejski
Prelude in C minor, op. 28 no.20 (1836-1839) arr. Piotr Moss
Prelude in D flat major, op. 28 no. 15 “Raindrop” (1836-1839) arr. Sabina Meck
Waltz in D flat major, op. 64 no. 1 “Minute waltz” (1847) arr. Piotr Moss
Lento con gran espressione [Nocturne] in C sharp minor, WN 37 (1830) arr. Sabina Meck
Waltz in C sharp minor, op. 64 no. 2 (1847) arr. Sabina Meck
Etude in C sharp minor, op. 25 no.7 (1832-1836) arr. Leszek Kolodziejski
Waltz in B minor, WN 19 (1829) arr. Leszek Kolodziejski
Nocturne in E flat major, op. 9 no. 2 (1831) arr. Piotr Moss
Waltz in E flat major, op. 18 “Grande valse brillante” (1831-1833) arr. Sabina Meck